News

Call for papers: Third International Conference on Management in Africa

AFRICA RESEARCH GROUP

Date: 5-6 September 2013

The continent of Africa has been undergoing major economic and social changes in the last two decades. Experts argue that the prospects of the continent will continue to grow largely due to the growing demand for its abundant natural resources and its potential market. In spite of these potentials however, the prospects of its institutions, organizations and human capital is subject to debate. Africa Research Group was established by like-minded scholars and researchers interested in the question of how the management of African organizations, institutions and its human resources can ensure the realization of the continent’s potentials. Several seminars and two International conferences have been organized by the group to pursue this aim. This is the third conference by the group. It will be organized at the Centre for Organization in Development, University of Manchester in collaboration with Nottingham University Business School. It seeks papers that examine the challenges of managing people and organizations in Africa from a wide variety of perspectives. We welcome papers that challenge conventional wisdom about the problems that characterize the organizational landscape in Africa. For example, we welcome contributions that open new debates on:

the role of leadership in institutional and organizational effectiveness in Africa

innovative HRM solutions unique to the African context

management in the NGO and development agency sectors

Human and Social capital in the development context

knowledge-creation and sharing

cross-cultural and ethnic factors

the effect of globalization and the role of MNCs

emergent Africa-Asia dialogue

the place of indigenous knowledge

the informal economy and home-grown solutions

entrepreneurialism

CSR and business ethics

HRM and decentralization in the public sector

knowledge transfer into and out of African contexts

the management of employee wellbeing including health and safety

HRM in the SME sector in Africa

the influence of the global economy on HRM in Africa

the impact of government policy on HRM practices at the local level

Publication

The committee is currently exploring options for a special issue of high-impact journals

Submission procedure

Please submit either extended abstracts (not less than 1,500 words) that will have been developed into full papers by the time of the conference, or full papers (about 8,000 words). All submissions will be subject to double-blind review.

Nottingham University Business School Nottingham University
Jubilee Campus, Nottingham NG1 8BB, United Kingdom

__________________________________________________________________

Call for papers

The Second International Conference on HRM and the Management of Organizations in Africa, 6-7 September, 2012.

Organized by the Africa Research Group, Nottingham Trent University, in collaboration with the CENTRE FOR ORGANIZATIONS IN DEVELOPMENT (COD), Institute for Development Policy and Management, Manchester University.

Following on from the very successful 2010 conference, this conference seeks papers that examine the challenges of managing people and organizations in Africa. We welcome papers that challenge conventional wisdom about the problems that characterize the organizational landscape in Africa, papers that open new debates on the role of leadership, knowledge-creation and sharing, managerial expertise, cross-cultural and ethnic factors, the effect of globalization and the role of MNCs, including the emergent Africa-Asia dialogue, the place of indigenous knowledge and home-grown solutions and so forth.

Submission procedure

Please submit either extended abstracts (not less than 1,500 words) that will have been developed into full papers by the time of the conference, or full papers (about 8,000 words). All submissions will be subject to double-blind review.

Empowering Women in Saudi Arabia

Dr. Beverly Metcalfe promotes women’s empowerment and leadership development at KSA Institute of Public Administration conference.

At the personal invitation of Dr. Saeed Al-Garni (Director General) and Dr. Hanan Al-Mahdi (Director General of the Women’s Branch), Dr. Beverly Metcalfe presented a keynote lecture at the Institute of Public Administration Public Sector and Administrative Excellence Conference under the patron King Abdullah custodian of the two holy mosques, in Riyadh on November 1st to 4th 2009. The IPA is the government owned training and development university that provides all development opportunities for men and women entering civil service and public administration. The IPA women’s branch currently trains 200 women every year to enter civil service administration in senior government roles. The conference was attended by 1000 delegates from 33 countries and included primarily academics in public administration, as well Education Ministers from Qatar, Kuwait and KSA, along with civil service personnel associated with human development and capacity building.
The keynote presentation explored Women’s Education, Leadership Development and Capacity Building, and highlighted many of the achievements that many Saudi women have made in reforming education curriculums, and providing opportunities for building communities and promoting entrepreneurship as well as playing a leading role in the development process in KSA.

This event was a significant milestone in challenging attitudes to women’s inclusion and women’s contribution to government policy making. At the conference, male and female delegates were separated in line with Saudi business practice. Dr Metcalfe was personally invited by the Director General to personally address the men the male auditorium, with a video relay to the women’s section. This was a historic moment as this was the first time a woman was permitted to directly address a male audience.

Dr. Al-Sabti, Deputy Minister of Education for boys, chaired the conference and congratulated Dr. Metcalfe on “…an excellent paper for reform within the framework of Islamic Shari’a”

Princess Adelah also attended the conference and complimented the many achievements of women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as documented by Dr. Metcalfe.
Dr. Metcalfe is pictured on the main stage, and due to the code of modesty it was not possible to pose with the male participants or be photographed with the women participants. The IPA and UOM will be collaborating as research partners as Dr Hanan Al-Mahdi will become a Research Associate of the Centre for Organisations in Development.

Great success for COD, with Gender and Diversity stream in Vienna at the Equality Diversity Inclusion 2010 Conference, July 2010

Women, Work and Globalization in Developing and Transitional Societies attracted the largest number of papers to the conference including Pakistan, Bangladesh , Malaysia, China, Sri Lanka, Australia, USA, and CEE/ Europe including East Germany, Czechoslovakia, Switzerland, as well as colleagues closer to home to in France and UK. Currently we are working with participants to work on a publication output. As the stream was a success we have been asked by Prof M Ozgilbin to make this a standing permanate track for the conference held bi-annually and currently exploring publication possibilities.

Keywords

Abstract

The aim of the track is to advance contemporary thinking in the discipline of equality and diversity management by bringing together international scholars with an interest in disadvantaged and marginalized groups in a European and international setting. We are interested in papers on equality and diversity management from all areas of the world, but especially in papers highlighting the European case. Consistent with the venue of EURAM 2011 (Tallinn, Estonia), we are especially interested in the gendered, racialised and ethnic dynamics prevalent in transitional country contexts. Within this track, we seek to analyze varying socio-demographic, socio-cultural and geopolitical contexts for their implications for work and organization processes including occupational segregation, work-life balance, wage differentials or, more subtle exclusionary practices such as gendered organizational cultures and the pre-eminence of hegemonic masculinity within organizations.

Inequalities are related to a myriad of difference dimensions, including gender, race, social-class, age, disability. This difference not only reinforces social injustice, but also encourages exploitation. Current debates in the area of gender, diversity and development management research include: social theory and inequality, the extent to which globalization has facilitated the spread of western ideas around feminism and justice, and what feminism means in diverse social-cultural contexts, equality and diversity; the convergence of legislative and policy approaches to inequality internationally; and the impact of labour market changes on employment equality, particularly in the context of EU enlargement.

We encourage contributions from scholars from a broad range of disciplines: economics, management, HRM, psychology, development, public administration, gender studies, sociology. We welcome studies of single country and comparative research. We aim to rejuvenate critical debate of the gendered, racialised and classed nature of organization systems. We encourage focus on private, public sector, international organizations and NGO's. As EURAM 2011 is taking place in Estonia, we are especially interested in the gendered, racialised and ethnic dynamics prevalent in transitional or/and post-socialist country contexts and have secured a SI of International Journal of Public Administration, Gender, Diversity, Governance and Public Administration in Transitional and Post Socialist States' . In addition to exploring contemporary debates on gender and equality in countries in Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia for Central Europe; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for the Baltic States; Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo Under UNSC 1244, TFYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia for South-East Europe; Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine for the Western CIS; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia for the Caucasus; and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for Central Asia, as well as China We especially welcome scholarly articles on gender, public administration, reform and governance in post-socialist and transitional states. Movements from communist led economy to a liberal market system have had profound and impacted the dynamics of diversity, equality and inclusion in a myriad of ways. Social services and public services have been withdrawn or radically altered and are creating greater divides in everyday working conditions. We are keen to attract either empirical papers or theoretical papers that examine new governance regimes and public administration changes, new social, HRM, employment and welfare policy agendas that tackle issues from a gender or diversity perspective. This is an open call to ensure integrity of highest academic standards and we anticipate high quality submissions for EURAM for SI

General Papers

European and global aspects of gender and diversity, including cross cultural aspects of managing difference

THE WINDS OF CHANGE

In an age of unprecedented national austerity and global insecurity, the global balance of power has shifted from a unipolar to an increasingly multipolar world order, where new global centres of power compete for influence and resources. This transition however, has yet to take real shape and is continuing to undergo a process of evolution that has so far been neither accurately defined, nor confidently articulated.

In light of this, could Africa be on the cusp of a long-awaited turning point? How best can African economies and societies navigate through these uncertain times? What does the future hold for a continent juxtaposed with some of the world's fastest growing economies on the one hand, yet on the other, burdened with what appear to be some of the most intractable global development challenges, all of which amplify the state of inequality and poverty across this vast continent?

We are expecting demand to be high for this event. If you would like to attend, please RSVP as soon as possible by email to: events@fpc.org.uk.

Posted 27 October2010

Call for Papers: International Journal of Public Administration

Special Issue: 'Gender, Diversity, Governance and Public Administration in Transitional and Post Socialist States'

This SI aims to advance theory and knowledge on gender and diversity management in transitional and post-socialist states. Our aim is to unravel leading research that examines the gendered, racialized and diverse issues of comparative aspects of public administration, management and reform. While a plethora of data exist on public management in Western economies, there is little that focuses on transitional and post specialist states, and even less that critically examines the gendered/racialised dynamics and consequences of post socialist reform, and the differential impact of new labour processes and governance regimes on men and women.

Movements from communist-led economies to liberal market systems have had profound gender and ethnic effects and impacted the dynamics of diversity, equality and inclusion in a myriad of ways. Social services and public services have been withdrawn or radically altered. We are keen to attract either empirical as well as theoretical papers that examine new governance regimes and public administration changes, new social, employment and welfare policy agendas that tackle issues from a gender or diversity perspective. Countries can include. Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia for Central Europe; Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania for the Baltic States; Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo Under UNSC 1244, TFYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania and Serbia for South-East Europe; Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine for the Western CIS; Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia for the Caucasus; and Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan for Central Asia, as well as China.

Topics can include:

International labour codes and impact on transitional/post socialist states employment and development

Gender mainstreaming, political representation and public policy

Difference, race, ethnicity, diversity and culture, NGO's and development

Gender, diversity and organization change in public administration

Gender and diversity leadership in public management and administration

Gender equality legislation, and national machineries of government

Work-life balance and equality programmes in public agencies

Pubic administration and development

Deadline

Papers should be approximately 6-8000 words
Submission to beverly.metcalfe@manchester.ac.uk May 30 2011;
Reviews; June-July 2011
Selection, Amendment and Submission October 2011;
Publication Date Early 2012

PRIVATISATION OF DEVELOPMENT: The implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in Nigeria

In March this year (2010) one of the co-directors of the centre (Dr. Aminu Mamman) travelled to Nigeria to undertake fieldwork on the centre’s current research themes on globalization and poverty reduction organizations (PRO). Dr. Mamman visited several organizations and talked to key policy actors such as Professor Badayi Sani, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Economic Intelligence Commission (NEIC), Dr. Attahir Yusuf, Group Excutive Director, Nigerian National Petroleum Company, Alhaji Mohammed Datti, a Director with the Nigerian Pension commission, Engineer Abdullahi Abubakar of the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), and Surveyor Suleiman Hassan of Suleiman Hassan & Associates Consultancy Services Limited and Alhaji Suleiman Saad, Registrar, Federal Polytechnic Mubi. Intimate discussions with these key policy actors have provided some insights into the current approach to development in the country which can only be captured informally.

Arguably, the issue that has not made significant in-road into the discourse of development on the African continent is the role of private sector. Ironically, one of the few observations made during the three-week field-trip was the high degree of privatisation of development in the country. Probably a good example of this point is the implementation of MDGs projects in Nigeria. For example, Suleiman Hassan & Associates Consultancy Services Limited is a private consulting outfit contracted to evaluate the delivery of MDG projects such as building of health clinics and schools, health professionals’ training programs, gender mainstreaming initiatives, sinking of boreholes water supply in villages and rural settlements, and building public toilet facilities.

Posted 21 April 2010

5th Workshop Conference on Organisational Change and Development: Core Competences in a Changing World

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, SEPTEMBER 23-24, 2010

Chairs:

Prof. Ruth Alas, Estonian Business School, Estonia; Emeritus Prof.

Vincent Edwards, Buckinghamshire New University, UK and Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana;

Prof. Helmut Kasper, (WU Vienna University of Economics and Business);

Prof. Christopher J. Rees, University of Manchester, UK and Beijing University of Technology

We are delighted to issue the call for papers for the 5th EIASM workshop conference on the subject of Organisational Change and Development (OCD). Previous OCD conference workshops have taken place in Tallinn, Vilnius, Bucharest and Krakow. The 5th OCD conference workshop is scheduled to take place in Vienna in September 2010.

Arguably, the subject of OCD has never been more relevant for governments, organisations, leaders, and managers in developed and developing countries. Factors such as globalisation, the global economic situation, the influence of multinational companies and international institutions, advances in information and communication technologies, and emerging markets (especially in Eastern Europe and Asia) have produced extreme volatility and uncertainty in organisational settings. These global factors and trends raise serious questions about the theory and practice of OCD. For example, what individual and organisational competences are needed to handle these trends? Are change management processes culture-bound or culture-free? What are the building blocks and stumbling blocks of future change management practices? What can we learn from the comparison of OCD theory and practice? What role does information flow and knowledge management play in the processes surrounding organizational change? What values are attached to organizational change strategies and interventions? The rapidly expanding body of literature on the subject of OCD bears further testimony to the importance of these types of questions in both academic and practical settings.

As in previous years, this OCD workshop conference is designed to provide delegates with the opportunity to present their work and discuss it in a constructive environment. Thus, the conference seeks to bring together international scholars and practitioners with a view to exploring perspectives and insights into the management of OCD. Work presented by delegates at the OCD conference workshops in previous years has been published in journals such Human Resource Development International, Baltic Journal of Management, Journal of Business Economics and Management, and the Estonian Business Review.

Submission of Abstracts: Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Full details of submission guidelines, costs and accommodation available from:

International Symposium on HRM and the Creation of Effective Organizations in Africa

Overview

The last two decades have seen increased interest in organizational and human resource challenges on the African continent. Scholars have grappled with topics like the suitability of Western management, as well as HR practices (Blunt and Jones, 1992; Kamoche et al, 2004), the role and impact of culture (Jackson, 2004), the emergence of indigenous ideas like ubuntu (e.g., Mbigi, 2000), and so forth. Some studies conducted by policy makers and academics have recently debated on the role of hybrid partnerships (Horwitz et al., 2002), referred to as cross sector social partnerships (CSSPs), to accelerate greater awareness, dialogue, inclusive collaborations and the need for socially responsible behaviour among businesses, not-for profit firms, governments, and people (i.e., as stakeholders) and how they could be utilized to develop sustainable forms of HRM practices and organizations in Africa. In spite of these remarkable developments, Africa remains relatively under-researched. This symposium seeks papers that not only advance debate on the challenges of managing people in Africa, but that also challenge conventional wisdom about the ‘traditional problems’ of managing in post-colonial (and post-apartheid) economies. We welcome papers that seek to open up new paradigmatic avenues, drawing from a range of theoretical perspectives and tackling HR and entrepreneurial problems in creative and innovative ways. Papers should not merely focus on how African organizations can learn from tried and tested theories, but more importantly, they might examine how the experiences and unique circumstances of organizations in Africa contribute to management theory and practice.

Topics

We invite papers of a conceptual, theoretical and empirical orientation, covering but not limited to the following topics:

Emergent themes and patterns in the management of people, and their impact on organizational effectiveness

Cross-cultural comparisons of management practices in a culturally diverse continent

The development of indigenous HR and management practices that are congruent with the local context

The contribution of African philosophical thought to HR theory and practice

The adoption and suitability of foreign management practices, including those from Asia

HRM, culture, entrepreneurialism and organizational performance

The impact of globalization on management practices and organizational performance

The role of expatriates, inpatriates and cross-functional global teams in developing and disseminating effective HR practices

Evidence of learning organizations and their effectiveness; the challenge of creating and diffusing knowledge and the role of HRM in these efforts

The impact of practices like nepotism and ethnicity on HRM and organizational effectiveness

HRM, business ethics and corporate social responsibility

Contributors are invited to submit either extended abstracts (not less than 1,500 words) or full papers (7,000-8,000 words). It is expected that the abstracts will have been developed into full papers by the time of the symposium. Submissions should be prepared in accordance with the Academy of Management Journal submission style. In line with standard practice, all submissions must be original and should not have been previously accepted for publication in a journal or edited book. All submissions will be subject to double-blind review. Selected papers will be considered for special issues of the International Journal of Human Resource Management and the Journal of African Business.

Women, Development and Empowerment in the Arab Gulf States

The HRDI journal has significantly advanced scholarship in respect of new knowledge’s and ideas of cross cultural differences in HRD processes and systems. However, there is still a dearth of literature that critically considers the nature of gendered processes of HRD in different global contexts. Scholars of globalization have shown that economic and social development remain uneven, between countries, within countries and between individuals (Acker, 2004; UNIFEM, 2004; World Bank, 2003, UN, 2006). Consistent with the contradictory nature of globalisation the impact on women and minorities has been mixed (Walby, 2005). The recent advancement of marginal groups and women to global leadership positions (for example Barak Obama) has ignited debate about inequality regimes in global contexts, making salient differences in access to education resources and HRD opportunities. Nowhere however, are the inequalities so marked between men and women than in the Arab Gulf States, with an array of human development indicators in environment, politics, health, economy lagging behind comparative regions. Given the regions oil wealth and urban development, literacy and educational attainment are relatively low (Davidson, 2008). Women are also under represented in political decision making and in senior public administration and leadership roles. Social science scholars broadly argue globalization has increased inequality between men and women as manifest for example in the ‘feminisation of poverty’ and gendered international divisions of labour (Walby, 2005; World Bank, 2005). Differences between men and women are also bound up with a tapestry of other differences. The rise of Islamization has offered opportunities for transformation, but has also threatened individual rights and freedoms (Esposito, 2005; Moghadam, 2005; Jawad, 2009). There is emerging literature that has begun to examine the gendered processes of HRD theory formation and how this can impact development practice (Metcalfe, 2008; Jawad, 2009; Callahan, 2008; Bierema, 2005; Bierema and Cseh, 2003). Further, Middle East women’s studies literature has sought to unveil the cultural and structural discriminatory processes, yet the complexities of difference and marginalization and HRD processes in socio-cultural and geo-political environments in the Arab Gulf states remain relatively unexplored. Given the increasing importance of Arab gulf economies to the expansion of world trade (Wilson, 2005) there is a need to critically explore how women have contributed to social and organization development, what current challenges they face in respect of economic and democratic change, and what strategies, at international, supra national, regional and local can aid women’s transformation and empowerment.

This SI will contribute to new understandings of the complexities of doing gender and HRD in the Gulf states. Papers are especially welcomed from scholars who can integrate HRD literature with other knowledge terrains so as to give a theoretically informed and holistic perspective of HRD dynamics, relations and social ethics. Recent critiques for example on the ‘language’ and ‘critical’ interpretations of HRD (for example Sambrook, 2009; Elliot and Turnbull, 2007) have shown how representations, understandings and applications of HRD ideas and models are socially, politically and historically constituted. The nature of HRD dynamics and relations are fundamentally different in Gulf states which have diverse regulatory regimes, governance mechanisms and organization values systems to what is commonly argued in western theorising. To this end we aim to provide a synthesis of current global scholarship which will serve as a key resource in the area of gender and HRD in the Arab Gulf state region.

Multidisciplinary papers are welcome, (women’s studies, OB/OD, development, middle east studies, sociology, economics) and can be either theoretical or empirical. Papers should be approximately 5-8000 words and comply with HRDI style guidelines and will be subject to peer review processes. Country focus can be Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, KSA, Kuwait, UAE.

Women and national human development strategies

Women, politics and governance in Arab Gulf states

Women and leadership development in Arab Gulf states

Women’s movements, transnational networks and development

Gender and NGO management

Gender, ICT’s and technology

Gender, MDG’s and Arab Gulf states

Critiques of gender, organization and development literature in the Arab Gulf states

Oliver Williamson awarded Nobel Prize in Economics

The award of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences to Oliver Williamson (jointly with Elinor Ostrom) has a special significance for COD. Building on the work of Ronald Coase (Nobel Prize in Economics, 1991) Williamson's work explains why individuals band together to form organizations in order to reduce the 'transaction costs' of dealing directly with each other via contracts. Relating to other individuals through an internal organizational hierarchy is often more efficient than relating to them through contracts in a marketplace.His work also suggests reasons for the way in which organizations are structured.

Work organizations therefore become an important and distinctive element of modern societies. That is increasingly the case in developing countries as they modernize and industrialise.; Thus Williamson's work, and its recognition by the Nobel Prize committee, serves to highlight the importance of a better understanding of organizations in developing countries. It is COD's mission to contribute to developing that understanding.

Posted 16 October 2009

Dr. Aminu Mamman has been appointed the new co-editor of the International Journal of Excellence in Public Sector Management. This position takes effect immediately.